The site of this 1917 monument is significant to the people of Graves County. A strongly Confederate community, Mayfield was occupied by a small Union force in 1864, and the citizens there were forced to help the soldiers build an earthen fortification around the courthouse. The courthouse was destroyed later that year and replaced, in 1866, by the current building.

This monument is one of four Civil War fountains in the state, as a small basin for drinking is built into the obelisk. Above the fountain is a copper relief of three Confederate flags. Curved benches extend eight feet to the north and south from the obelisk, terminating in six-foot light posts on each end. The Mayfield Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy purchased the monument at a cost of $1,650 from the McNeel Marble Company in Marietta, Georgia, manufacturer of several monuments erected in Kentucky.

Questions/Activities:

What is a relief? Research copper. Where is it mined?

Investigate the various Confederate flags used during the War. When and why was the St. Andrews Cross flag design (the Confederate battle flag) adopted?

These simple cemetery gates were the second project honoring the Confederate Veterans undertaken by the Mayfield Chapter of the U. D. C. The stuccoed gateposts originally supported lights. Only those on the main (southernmost) gate hold bronze plaques. The iron gates, curved along the top, are minimally embellished with the inscription and scrolled finials on the two outermost verticals only.

Graves County was dramatically impacted by the Civil War. Union forces occupied the area periodically, and General Eleazor A. Paine enacted a reign of terror there in mid-1864. Confederates lost many lives in 1862 during a tragic epidemic at Camp Beauregard. Skirmishes occurred, and much property was damaged or destroyed during the War, including the courthouse in 1864.